Dear Colleagues,
I am putting together a collection of essays on Literature and Class for the publisher Routledge.
Some of you may look at this question with different eyes than mine.
So please tell me about any experiences you have writing about literature through the lens of social class.
Have you done such analysis?
What theory did you find most helpful?
How do you define social class when it comes to writing about it in the arts?
Thanks for any and all ideas and comments.
Hello, Michael, if I may,
Do you have an essay that would be suitable for our collection? I can send you the specifics--8000 word as desired length, etc. I have no essays thus far that far back in history.
Thank you for starting this discussion. I have to keep on task at this stage and this is one way.
In an academic sense, social class is a reality directly linked to academic attainment, heritage, financial status and social positions. Hence an individual's knowledge of the literary and relevant theories and concepts naturally will be applied in making an analysis. However, these variables I mentioned, in many ways contribute to an individual's social construction of reality, inclination and attributions. Beyond and within academic stipulations of analysis of texts, individuals view texts based on the aforementioned persuasions and worldviews.
Thank you very much, Colleague Emeka Aniago. In your comments, I am reminded of Linda Flower's and others Reader Response Theory. Do you see that as applicable?
Actually, social class as it intersects literary analysis can be what the reader/critic sees or doesn’t see. Even what she or he has been trained to see or not see. For example, in William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” a critical analysis may only see the interactions of class and race as they impact a poor family that is constantly on the move and the resentment of one class of whites upon another. Many critics initially get caught up in a certain contempt for the language of the characters and the racial epithets which are also demarcations of class impacted by racism and language. Many critics might not see the language of the poor whites as a legitimate means of communication when, in all actuality, it is in the South and has not really gone anywhere. Further critics may not notice the class striations within the interactions of the white characters. Many poor whites resented the rich whites who really initiated the Civil War but went along with it based upon the racism of the poor whites who set themselves up as one step above blacks in a racialized hierarchy no matter they were poor as overused dirt. Social class can misidentify the conflicts amongst characters or wholly miss the nuances of character interactions and intentions or the author’s meaning.
Hello, Colleague Conrad Pegues,
That is very insightful. I studied Faulkner so long ago in college that I think it was mainly the racial elements that were noted and actually that the "noble" upper class were less racist. The ideas you point out here about how one class gained much more economically from the Civil ar were never discussed back then, as i recall.
Thank you for your post here and don't hesitate to shar again i more comes to mind.
Our text The Routledge Companion to Literature and Class comes out on Sept. 2, 2021. I'm the editor. All 32 of the essayists have fingers crossed and hope this will be a useful text.
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